Margaret reads a memo from her father about the sale of their house at 2400 Harrison St., Evanston. It was a comfortable house, well-maintained and clean.
Margaret tells about the beginning of the end of her father's life. A.D. had his first stroke during of after one the many football games to which he would take Margaret. His health began to decline steadily after that and working became a struggle…
Margaret reads two December 1924 letters from Kenneth about her father's illness and him stopping working again. She describes her father as very melancholic and unable to sleep or work, though he was able to get around.
Margaret's father went back to work after some ten months of interruption for illness. He was the Curtis Publishing Company's credit manager. The company had very high standards and a lot of strain was involved in A.D.'s position there.
Margaret tells again of Rufus Park, who took her father on an evangelistic tour in 1925. The goal was to reach with the Gospel people who were living in out-of-the-way places.
Following Grandmother Mortenson's death Adelle sold the family's house in Evanston and moved to Wheaton. Lois came to live with them and Kenneth visited often.
Margaret tells about her mother Adelle trying to start a Café (it was very hard to find a place to eat in Wheaton). But the owner of the bakery where she wanted to do it would not spend the money needed, so Adelle gave up the idea.
Miss. Torrey arranged with Margaret's mother to spend the day at her home because she lived too far from the college. This was good for Adelle to enjoy some company, especially after the death of her husband.
Margaret tells of hospitality at the Mortensons. There was always someone living at their home for a year, or two, or more. That was normal and had become part of their life.
Margaret reads letters from her mother about building a house and selling it for profit. One letter mentions the people she trusted for the buying of a lot and the building of the house. It turned out that she entrusted her resources and her projects…
Kenneth reads from his journal about Easter morning at the Mortensons that he attended, and the service and his walk with Margaret to join a group of students. He recalls Mrs. Mortenson coming to them driving her new Buick car.
Margaret tells of Grace Van Hough who came to live with them and persuaded Adelle to let her buy a grand piano. Adelle's piano went out but when Grace was leaving she took her piano with her and didn't bother to replace Adelle's piano.
Margaret recalls the coming of J. O. Buswell to the presidency at Wheaton College, replacing interim President Welsh who wanted to keep the position. She tells how Buswell's involvement in College Church split the congregation. Buswell himself was…
It was easy to make friends and there was so much going on. One night Margaret heard music outside just as she was ready to go to bed, and her friend Muriel urged her to come out. There was a group of boys serenading them that night.
Margaret's desire was to go to Vassar for college. Her parents decided that she should go to Wheaton, so they took her to visit there. To convince her, Margaret's parents bargained with her that she could go to the girls' summer camp again if she…
Margaret intended to win a scholarship by her good grades. She worked hard in her History class and got 95 on each examination and at the end of the semester the professor gave her 70 because Margaret and her friend had teased him. It cost her the…
Margaret was invited to share the room of the junior girls she had met in the late summer because one of them wasn't coming back to Wheaton. This was a tremendous piece of luck to have a junior's room.
Margaret had her tonsils removed and a nurse that Grace Van Hough knew came to watch over her for 24 hours. She remembers the nurse commenting on her muscles from head to toes (Margaret had was in sports a lot and had developed pretty strong…
Margaret reads from her journal about learning that she had been elected as freshman class patron. She tells about her first duty--to chaperon freshman outings.
In the Spring of 1924 Margaret was in a tennis tournament in which she won several games but lost one. She and her friend Ruth also lost the doubles to a pair of girls of whom one was preparing for the Olympics.
Lois invited Margaret to spend the night over at her family's home. She got there just in time for dinner, after which they went out with the intention to see a professor but instead were joined by a group of boys with whom they spent the evening…
When Kenneth and Margaret started dating she once commented about a girl that she thought was pretty, to which Kenneth remarked that the girl's neck was dirty. The next time he saw Margaret her neck was red: she had washed it to the point of…